Inviting Customers and Sending Mass Emailers

Owned by Rachel Giacomin
Last updated: Mar 06, 2024 by Doug Fisher
5 min read

It’s time to invite your customers to try the Boardera platform! This document provides some email templates you can use, and guides you through the process of sending mass emailers using tools you already have (mail merge).

Now that you’ve tested the Boardera platform and configured your pricing, the next step is to invite some friendly customers to use it. We will support you and be ready for any customer feedback. This will result in some usage of the system to get you familiar with the workflow along the way using real-life scenarios.

In this document:

Step 1: Invite Some Customers

It’s up to you how many friendly customers you choose to invite to check out the Boardera platform. We recommend you invite customers in the following way:

  1. Place a reference to your new online tool in the footer of your email signatures.

  2. Respond to customers' inquiries via email using the Load Project feature.

  3. Send email invites and awareness messaging. You can find some examples below for ideas.

 

Response to Customer RFQ Email Example

Thank you so much for the opportunity to quote on your project! We’ve just launched a new online pricing and ordering platform so that you can get your own pricing and place an order in a matter of minutes. You can sign up here [YourLink] and upload your first project. Don’t worry if you get stuck you can easily ask for help. If you prefer, we will still be happy to price your project manually, but please give us a couple of days to do so.

Please note: Your previous projects and orders may not have been uploaded to this platform. This platform is intended to process new online quotes and orders.

 

Awareness Messaging Example

We’ve launched a new full-featured online ordering system specifically for PCB Assembly [or PCB Fabrication]. It offers a modern interface that supports RFQs, Quotes, BOM Sourcing and order processing including tracking your quotes and orders status. It also has a built-in DFM check. 

We’d love for you to give it a try and share your feedback with us.

Please note: Your previous projects and orders may not have been uploaded to this platform. This platform is intended to process new online quotes and orders.

You can try it here [YourLink]

 

Step 2: Send a Mass Emailer to Your Customer Base

Using a combination of messaging examples and the mail merge feature, you can send out simple campaigns to ensure your target and existing customer base is aware of your new online tool.

It is expected 15% - 20% of your customer base prefers the capability to engage online and expedite the process of onboarding and pricing a new project. That will grow over time, and soon enough more and more of your efforts to respond to RFQ inquiries will be more automated over time.

Mail Merge

Mail Merge is one of the ways you can send a mass emailer. If you’d prefer to use an Email Service (like Mailchimp), please see section c, below.

To create a Mail Merge, you will need Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and a MAPI-compatible email program like Outlook or Gmail.

  1. Open a blank document in Word and type the body of the email message you want to send.

  2. Go to Mailings > Start Mail Merge > E-mail Messages.

     

  3. Create your mailing list in Excel. Make sure your data source has a column for email addresses and that there's an email address for everyone you’re sending email to. Also include a “Name” column containing each contact’s first name if you want their email to be addressed directly to them.

  4. Save your Excel mailing list in a place that’s easy to locate.

  5. In Word, go to Mailings > Select Recipients. If you’ve already created your mailing list, select “Use an Existing List” and select the correct file.

     

  6. Save your Word file. This will save the connection between your Word file and the contact list in Excel.

  7. Add merge fields. For example, if you have a “Name” column in your contact list, then you can insert the recipient’s name into your email message. Make sure your cursor is set in the location where you want to enter the data. Go to Mailings > Insert Merge Field, and then select which field you want to insert.

     

    The field should then appear in your document, where your cursor is, and look like this: <<Name>>

  8. Preview and finish. Choose Preview Results, and then choose Next or Previous to see the names and addresses in the body of your letter.

     

Before finishing, here’s a PRO TIP! If you’re using Outlook and you want to view your emails before they get sent out, open Outlook, select Outlook in the menu bar, and select Work Offline. While working offline, all emails will be stuck in your outbox, and you can view them before they automatically send.